The Café Baby Blog

Barbra Kingsolver makes a great case for consuming food that comes from your local community within the first few pages of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. She writes, “If every US citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meat and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by 1.1 million barrels of oil every week.” A typical meal travels 1,500 miles (more miles than most American’s travel on yearly vacations) to get to your plate consuming natural resources and adding to pollution every mile.

That night at the restaurant, I realized she was right. I don’t know why I needed someone to tell me it was okay to quit. Truth be told, there is so much pressure for moms to breastfeed and I felt like a failure that I wasn’t able to do so. Camila and I had attended so many support groups and met with so many lactation consultants, but something just wasn’t working. I still wanted her to have breastmilk but didn’t know how

If there are any new moms reading this or moms who are dusting off their breastfeeding training wheels, know that breastfeeding doesn’t have to be ALL or NOTHING. Every breastfeeding journey looks different and sometimes it lasts three weeks and sometimes it lasts three years- both are okay. Both are beautiful journeys.

Miscarriage and infertility struggles are not talked about. Women (and their partners) go through their grief and their frustrations relatively alone. But I’m changing that this time. I write to process and to heal and I think it’s important to talk and share. It’s important for parents to know they aren’t alone in their struggle- whatever that struggle may be. Know that you are not alone.

But, it’s not just a child’s physical well-being that benefits from home-cooked meals. When families eat together, there is a great opportunity for connection and conversation. These moments lead to a developed sense of belonging to a stronger performance in school and even helps to prevent things like depression or reckless behavior, such as drug use.

Every baby’s journey into the solids world is different and you have to find what works best for your family. And sometimes what you think will work, your baby will dictate something completely different. Parenting is full of choices and this one should be a fun exploration of figuring out what your baby can or won’t eat.

Mom guilt. The constant mental harassing. The incessant nagging in your brain telling you to do something you’re not. The relentless pressure to be better than you are. The push to do more. You’re here but you want to be there. “You’re not doing enough,” your conscience says, but in reality, you’re hanging on by a thread.